The Curse of Interesting Times

Oh my gosh, things are wild. Everyone knew it would be bad, but of course not this bad! In my life there is plenty of microcosm/macrocosm stuff happening at the same time, which is just extra frightening, but also helpful.

It's not that hard to feel it when your free speech rights are threatened. Attempts are being made to keep me from having contact with other members of my organization, specifically the Board. We watched this at OCF, when instead of each individual Board member's email being available, it changed to a gatekeeping email that was controlled by the ED. As far as I know, no policy was written that said members could not contact their Board members, it just became less open and transparent and the members had less access. If they could get those emails, they still had access, but they were controlled to one step away. Seemed benign enough but it wasn't. It was part of a control structure designed to shift freedom to a smaller group of members, and take it away from the larger group. The same justification was used as what's happening now: the members are "mean" and staff needs to be protected from them. Do you know anyone who is mean? Okay, maybe a couple of people, but is the problem they don't feel their needs are being addressed? Listen to what they are saying without just dismissing them.

 I've been receiving emails telling me to stop emailing a list of members that includes the Board, which are vaguely threatening. I know there is not policy. I know I have free speech rights. I know as keeper of the archives that I have lots of  resources that members and Board members need. After 50 years I know what is good and not for my member organization. I know gatekeeping is a bullying tactic to control free speech. So yeah, that is happening. I'm mostly ignoring it. I've been pressured to allow "facilitation" of my archiving project, that I stepped up to do about ten years ago, and have invested hundreds of hours in, plus my own money. I don't need anyone controlling it. Volunteers like me do big things when they are supported, not controlled. I've expressed what I need in support, but it hasn't materialized. When I share materials, I am questioned as to my "authority" regarding the materials. Are they "official"? Um, what does that mean? It's a surprising definition that is new, referring to the higher level of control over member-generated materials. Now they have to go through the gatekeeping system to be shared.

The Board is struggling because of inadequate training materials and neutral information providers to be able to make sensible, informed decisions. The erosion of member rights that started in about 2015-2016 has gradually led us to a place where members do not know what their rights are, and are afraid to speak up. The procedures that are in place direct them to contact the staff or Board Chair but if they do not feel safe or confident that their concerns will be addressed, they have no other options unless they are free to contact other members. Members being sanctioned for speaking to other members is happening. Letters are being withheld from Board members or delayed from being addressed unless they are edited, or they're just not being shared in an attempt to marginalize the input of particular members. Vague terms are used such as "protocol," "improper" and "inappropriate" which are subjective and meant to intimidate. I'm not having it.

People just not accepting unfair practices are popping up all over, and in the macrocosm, of course, it is obvious what the threats are and how serious they are. Will enough people in the microcosm see and hear what is happening and stop the direction of the oppression of members? A few are seeing it, and more are feeling it, though they are still fearful of being sanctioned.

With the new rule that a member's rights can be terminated with only four anonymous complaints, all members are at risk. The rule does not specify a timeframe...over years, in one year, in a lifetime? Can all of the complaints come from one person? Do they have to be a member, too? If three people sign on, is that three complaints, or still just one? Can staff use it as a tool to ban members they dislike for various reasons? What happens if you don't comply? I don't think I have to answer these questions. I've seen many, many instances where a member gets more than four complaints. The people who made and sold the sand-filled animals got regular complaints filed against them and went into Standards to prove they made them, more than four times. Jewelers often file complaints when they see the many violations possible in the world of jewelry. Anonymous complaints are necessary, in some cases, but they are also dangerous. Not everyone is on the same ethical page.

I know at least two members who got the book thrown at them for not being satisfied with staff actions regarding a load-in problem caused by staff. A number of us witnessed the incidents and the conflicting narratives that were pushed that resulted in the suspension of longstanding practices and nothing created to solve the problems. Members were just pressured not to talk about it to each other. A false narrative was pushed by a misled Board member and the Board took responsibility for crafting a solution for an operational problem that is not one they need to be asked to solve. They do policy. Staff does operations. I watched all of it, and I understand what was underneath it, but that does not make it right and it was handled really badly.

It's shocking to me every time that manipulation and gaslighting prevents the transmission of our huge treasury of institutional knowledge. I've been keeping extensive archives since 2009 when I came back to the minutes-recording task. As Secretary for 15 years I tried hard to make sure every piece of business or culture was retained for the public record and archival use of members and the public. Our history is the city's history, even the state's. Saturday Market is for everyone, for the community, and not just the community of members. We can have two community members on our Board...they don't even have to be paying members. We have always tried hard to be open and inclusive to the maximum degree.

It's complex how we do that, of course. We don't necessarily benefit from news coverage of our internal struggles, so we tend to try to handle them internally. It isn't ideal when our members get frustrated and think going to the media or City Council will help them get their needs met. But if we are not open to our members and dedicated to making sure their needs are met, they will go public. 

In the recent case of the harassment and termination of a member, who runs a highly popular and productive food booth, it started because she was just not having it when the coercive gaslighting and manipulative tactics began. Many of us with histories of being bullied have quick and decisive self-protection mechanisms in place, and we have learned to refuse bullying. We recognize the tactics right away. We draw our boundaries. Instead of the mentoring and organizational support for a new food booth, she was subjected to control and domination tactics designed to force her to comply to new regulations and procedures that members had not had input into, except a select few who were convinced it was the right thing to do. I protested at that time, as an officer, that our history showed that this was a bad idea, and that there would never be 100% compliance from our members on any kind of decree from the top. I know us. We've always been anti-authoritarian and it's a good thing.

But then a little campaign was begun to push out the elders from leadership roles. A letter was put out by one member that said all the old people should get out of the way and let the younger people lead. There were only five or six older people in leadership roles, and we knew we were the targets. Of those people, there is now only one left on a committee, and none in leadership roles. In subtle ways we were hustled out. Everyone was gaslighted to think this was a natural process and not one of coercion. Sorry, I saw it and felt it. I stayed in as long as I could but it was stifling and people stopped listening to me. I tried to sit aside and let some terrible decisions go by, sometimes speaking from the minority, sometimes objecting to the tactics. It didn't work, and the personal cost was high. I resigned last fall from my leadership roles and have now resigned from contracting, (recording and screenprinting services) and most of all, I have resigned from doing the staff's work for them.

I spent countless hours doing tasks that were in the job descriptions of staff, trying to hand them back with the transmission of why they were historically done in certain ways, and set good examples of how to do them well. I wrote several complicated grant applications (dozens of hours) to assist staff in bringing in needed income. I attempted to launch a merch program which failed. I proposed a community event to strengthen our alliances with other nonprofits and city agencies and community partners, but it was handed to a tiny committee to organize without sufficient organizational event management. It didn't have the desired effects. I had to give up being the liaison between members and staff and the city in construction projects as I was cut out of getting direct information from the city and when I gave out the information I did have, to members, I played the fool when it was incorrect and inadequate. The whole loss of spaces to the storm drains was mishandled by both the city and two sets of managers, and all I could do was apologize to the membership and end my role.

Step by step I pulled out and put up my boundaries to the manipulation and coercive tactics. I tried to keep a low profile and not blow things up in a destructive way. I kept my justifications private and allowed others to collect their own experiences and data. But then when the terminations started to be inevitable, I had to start giving archival information for the common good.

I was astonished to see how much things have eroded since only 2021 and 2022. I feel compelled to help despite my better judgement. I refuse to engage directly in power struggles with a bully, but I have experienced retaliation and expect more. I am a resource for the organization, and anyone who knows how I have operated in the 50 years I've been a member can see how useful I have been.

I lead from the middle. I am committed to allowing consensus, truth and honest actions to proceed, even when I don't agree with them. I gave up on the cancelling of the November market, as I was in the minority after a managed campaign to eliminate it. It hurt the bottom line, as no one attended much in November and now people are taking their vacation month in October so that month has become less profitable. I knew that building up the member numbers without having enough access for them on regular Saturdays was going to create a large body of minimally committed members who would get discouraged and go away. I know why we don't budget for growth, as it is a mixed blessing. I know all about what staffing levels should be, how nepotism hurts the other staff, how to avoid a staff/member opposition. I know how members react to tightening of standards and policies unless they are given chances, lots of chances, to give input and speak about their needs. We have always worked hard to improve member services, access, community building, and diversity in every way we can see to do it. And we have always depended heavily on the volunteer participation to do it, welcoming disagreement while we built consensus in order to find the "elegant solution" in the middle of the round table.

We've just been going in the wrong direction with the wrong leadership for the times. The macrocosm is speaking directly to us and we had better listen. We have a lot at risk. During recessions and times of job loss, we get more members who can be desperate to make a living. It's not the time to be quibbling over perfect compliance to controlling rules and policies and procedures. It's time to be working in honest good faith to stay out ahead of our developing problems and be ready for change.

We stand for excellent values and the larger community depends on us. We are the community gathering and the business incubator and the joy in the center of town. So much depends on  the health of our tiny little nonprofit. We must hold ourselves to the highest standards of behavior, compassion, empathy, and right action. We must have better leadership that understands who we are, and how we got that way.

So don't let our Rubio take over our archives, or our Musk take over our finances. Don't let our Bondi restrict our freedom of speech. Let's be careful with our precious organization that so many of us depend on for our future and present lives. Listen to your elders. Open yourself to bringing the energy and new ways of thinking along into the traditional structure for the best of all worlds. Please.